DUBAI: As the nation prepares for increased hostility with Israel and the US under incoming US President Donald Trump, Iran held air defense drills on Saturday.
The war drills are being held as Iranian leaders fear that Trump’s “maximum pressure” approach will further tighten US sanctions on Iran’s oil industry while also giving Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the authority to target Iran’s nuclear sites.
“To safeguard the nation’s skies and sensitive and vital areas, defense systems will practice fighting against air, missile, and electronic warfare threats in real battlefield conditions,” Iranian official television stated.
The exercises, which began on January 4, will last for two months. During the war simulations, the elite Revolutionary Guards defended important nuclear installations in Natanz from simulated missile and drone attacks, according to state media.
Iran’s military has claimed to be utilizing new drones and missiles in the drills and has made public video showing Guards commander-in-chief Maj Gen Hossein Salami touring a new subterranean “missile city.” In a speech shown on state television, Salami cautioned that Iran and its missile capabilities in particular were more powerful than ever before, warning of a “false sense of delight” among Iran’s adversaries.
An Iranian general named Behrouz Esbati, who was allegedly stationed in Syria, claimed in a speech that went viral on social media that Iran had “badly lost” in Syria, despite Iranian officials downplaying Iran’s defeats.
In 2015, President Barack Obama reached an agreement with Iran that called for Iran to stop enriching uranium, which can produce material for nuclear weapons, but Trump withdrew from the agreement in 2018.
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